Heart4kidsadvocacyforum's Blog

Kids Just Want to Have Fun

Kids Play Is Their Work, and Their Work Is Play!

Children are so amazing to watch and engage with.  Their wild and creative imaginations carry them into worlds and happenings that we can’t begin to understand. Yes, we were all children at the onset of our life’s journey, and yes we too probably had in our grasp the world of imagination and fantasy.  Oh how glorious it would be if we could slip in and out of their world where we have control over all the elements that we conjured up with our imagination. Children have the innate ability to slip in and out of our world of reality as they please.  Sometimes they are intentional in checking out and sometimes I think it just happens unconsciously.  I believe that when we are children the desire to play and be light hearted is in the very essence of our being. 

Children see and feel the beauty and freedom in play.  It is not something that adults have to try to structure for them if they have been allowed to explore and experiment on their own.  Play is “kids space” unless you are invited you should not impose your presence or try to manipulate what they have put into action.  It is “invitational only”. If you are invited to join them in play, it is a privilege it is an honor. Their play activities might not look structured or organized in our terms, but in their minds it has form and distinction.  It is alive and vibrant!  It has color and dimension. It has no time limit. It is a place where judgment has no influence.  It is freedom to be themselves as well as whomever and whatever their imagination affords them to be.  What joy!  What bliss!  What a gift!

Can you remember how it felt to go out in the backyard and play for hours uninterrupted?

Can you remember how it felt to make mud pies and get so dirty you had to be hosed off before going in the house?

Can you remember playing house/doctor/school/getting lost in the jungle and having to escape all kinds of danger and obstacles? 

Can you remember how it felt to be engaged with your playmates and knowing you had friends?

Can you just imagine how our lives would be if we remembered how to play and if we actually took out time to infuse more play in our daily lives?

What can we do to support play for children?  Provide the time! Provide the space! Provide the support and encouragement that lets them know you value and respect them and their “art” of “Play”!

Play my friends!

Get in touch with the “child” in your soul and “PLAY”!